Kel Cries
by imogenhm
Summary: Kel's Yamani mask finally slips when she's told some very bad news...
1. Chapter One

~A.N~ This is written as an insert to add as an extra part to Tamora Pierce's book Squire. This insert is written about the night after Keladry meets the Yamani ladies. ~  
  
DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings belong to Tamora Pierce  
  
~*Chapter One *~  
  
Keladry was sitting with Cleon, Neal and the others in the mess, eating supper when suddenly the door flew open. Princess Shinkokani entered the mess hall closely followed by Yuki; both still dressed in their riding clothes. Kel stood up with everyone else and bowed to the ladies; she looked at them closely and saw that they were extremely upset. Lord Wyldon got slowly to his feet and bowed, he did not realize that the Yamanies were upset because of the control they had over their expression; they had on their Yamani Masks. The only sign of any distress was the way the Princess was continually wringing her hands. Kel knew that for the Yamani to show even that small sign she must have been very upset.  
  
'My Lord Training Master,' the Princess began after bowing first to Lord Wyldon then to the room. 'I am very sorry for taking Squire Keladry away two nights in a row, but could you please excuse her. It is quite urgent that I speak with her.'  
  
Lord Wyldon looked from the Yamani ladies to Kel and back again, as if waiting for someone to explain. After a minute, when it was obvious no one was going to say anything further, Lord Wyldon beckoned to Kel. She stood up instantly and hurried forward; she bowed to Lord Wyldon in the eastern style then turned to Shinko and Yuki and bowed in the Yamani fashion.  
  
'Thank you my lord.' Princess Shinko said and with a quick bow to Lord Wyldon and another, even quicker, one to the assembled pages and squires she left, before they could even bow in reply. Yuki and Kel did the same and then hurried after her.  
  
As soon as the mess door shut behind them Kel asked 'What's wrong, what's happened?' The Yamani Ladies stopped and turned to her. For a moment they both looked uncertainly around. 'It would not be suitable to tell you here.'  
  
At that Kel felt her stomach contract. Why? Why wouldn't it be suitable to tell her here? It must be something pretty bad for them not to tell her straight away. 'No. Tell me here.' Kel tried to calm her self; she tried to control her imagination. She tried to keep her face free of expression, free of emotion. She tried to keep Yamani calm. It was probably no big deal. But if it was no big deal why did she have such a bad feeling in her stomach? 'Tell me! What's happened? What's wrong?'  
  
Shinko hesitated. 'We went riding today, with your mother...'  
  
Kel's stomach lurched. Had something happened to her mother? No it couldn't have, her mother was a great rider. Nothing could happen to her. Even though Kel tried to keep a blank face it was obvious that both Yuki and Shinko guessed what she was thinking. Yuki reached out and squeezed her arm. 'Don't worry; nothing has happened to your mother.' She assured her. Kel felt weak as a wave of relief washed through her. She couldn't imagine what life would be like if something happened to her mother.  
  
'As I was saying; we went out riding and when we got back there was an urgent message for your mother, it had been left at the stables so that she would receive it immediately.' Shinko paused, not sure how to continue. 'The message was from Mindelan. Your brother, Anders, had been hit by an arrow, while doing border patrol on the Scanran border.' 


	2. Chapter Two

DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings belong to Tamora Pierce  
  
~*Chapter Two *~  
  
Kel was shocked. She tried to stay calm. She tried to keep her emotions under control, to speak normally. The result was that her voice sounded hollow and horribly forced. 'Is he alright?' There was another pause. 'He was being taken to Mindelan, to recover fully, but he didn't make it there in time; he had lost too much blood.'  
  
Kel let out a small cry; Anders had been her closest brother, he had always been supportive of her coming to the palace, he had even given her advice about how to deal with the boys' teasing and bullying. She turned away from the Yamanies. She didn't want to disgrace herself by having them witness how little control she had over her expression. She stumbled away, she wanted to get away from them, she had to be by herself. She opened the door that stood in front of her, not caring where it took her as long as it was away. She realized too late that she had just opened the door to the mess hall. It was too late to turn around so, fighting to keep control of her emotions, she walked to the front of the room and stood before Lord Wyldon. In the hush that followed her sudden re-entry Kel heard the Yamani Ladies enter and then the clanking and swishing as everyone in the room tried to rise to bow.  
  
Kel bowed to Lord Wyldon, 'My Lord, may I be excused from the rest of supper this evening?' she asked in a slightly shaky voice. Lord Wyldon looked at Kel then looked past her to Princess Shinko; he saw something in her expression that stopped him from proceeding with his usual interrogation as to why she wanted to be excused. Instead he simply nodded.  
  
'Thank you, My Lord.' Kel said, bowing. She turned and set off across the room to the door. She had to struggle to stop her self from running. She tried to think calming thoughts; she tried to imagine the calm lake she would like her face to reflect but it was no good. She was half way across the room when to her immense horror and shame she felt a tear trickle down her cheek. This was followed by another and another, until they were streaming down her face. She couldn't face the looks she new would be on her peers' faces if she looked up; wonder, disbelief, scorn but worst of all pity. She knew she couldn't stand the pity that her friends' faces would show. So she kept her head down and ran for the door. 


	3. Chapter Three

DISCLAIMER: All Characters and Settings belong to Tamora Pierce  
  
~*Chapter Three *~  
  
Both Neal and Cleon started to their feet to go after her, just as Lord Wyldon called out for Kel to stop. Kel gave no sign of hearing him. She burst out of the hall and into the corridor. She barged past a startled servant and headed for her rooms. She didn't slow down until her door was safely locked behind her.  
  
Lord Wyldon had jumped to his feet in anger when Kel had ignored his direct order to stop. He ordered Merric (who was closest to the door) to pursue Kel and bring her back. Merric, who was still in shock from seeing Kel actually crying, got slowly to his feet and was about to open the hall door when Princess Shinko spoke. 'Let her go, please my Lord, she has just received some most grievous news, she has just learned that her brother has fallen victim to a Scanran arrow and unfortunately has died from loss of blood.'  
  
Lord Wyldon looked shocked, but gestured to Merric to stop and return to his seat. Cleon, who was squire to Iness (one of Kel's brothers) and knew the family well, suddenly bowed and spoke directly to Princess Shinkokani 'Your Highness, I apologize greatly for interrupting but may I ask of whom you speak? Of which of the Mindelan brothers are you reporting?'  
  
Princess Shinko did not hear him, she was already taking her leave from Lord Wyldon, however Yuki bowed to Cleon then replied quietly, 'The news that we have brought is in relation to Anders of Mindelan, the oldest of the Mindelan siblings.' With that she bowed to Lord Wyldon then to the assembled boys and quickly followed her mistress out of the hall.  
  
Lord Wyldon, visibly collecting himself, turned back to Merric and told him to find Lord Raoul, and to ask him to see him in his rooms, as soon as possible. But just as Merric was leaving Lord Raoul strode into the mess. He looked troubled and slightly angry as he spoke directly to Lord Wyldon, not bothering with the civility of a bow; 'Could you be so kind as to explain why my squire has just locked herself in her room and refuses to come out?'  
  
'Perhaps, Lord Raoul, you would like to accompany me to my rooms, where we can talk more privately.' He looked pointedly at the assembled boys, who were starting to whisper to each other franticly. Raoul looked concerned at this reaction from Wyldon however agreed to follow him. As Lord Wyldon was leaving the mess, he turned and addressed the boys, 'Lord Raoul and I are going to see to this matter, until then I strictly forbid any of you to so much as enter the wing of Keladry's rooms, do you understand me? She is to be left in peace.' And with that he swept out of the hall.  
  
As the door closed behind him, the boys' muttering erupted into a loud babble of voices. 'Poor Kel!' both Owen and Merric said simultaneously. At the same time both Cleon and Neal said firmly 'I have to go see her.' They looked at each other, startled. 'I should go see her, she's obviously upset, maybe she'll talk to me.' Reasoned Neal, who was Kel's best friend. Cleon looked like he was about to argue but he just looked down at the table, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks. 'Your right, she's most likely to talk to you.'  
  
Neal looked at Cleon curiously. But he was interrupted before he could say anything. 'Didn't you guys hear what the Stump said? You can't go and see her!'  
  
Neal turned to Owen who had just spoken and said, 'Kel is upset! Do you really think I'm just going to sit here and do nothing about it?'  
  
'Yes,' Faleron answered for Owen, 'If you go barging in now, you'll just make her more upset. You know how she can't stand us thinking she's not as strong as we are. She'll think that crying in front of us was completely girly and weak and that we'll think less of her for it. You know she couldn't stand that. And besides, that's assuming you could get in, which I doubt you could.'  
  
Neal looked uncertain. 'You know he's right, Neal.' Cleon put in 'As much as you don't want him to be.' Neal looked down at the table, 'It's just such a shock; I mean to actually see Kel cry! She's gone through so much, and not once have I seen her shed a tear, and now...'  
  
'Yeah, I know what you mean,' agreed Owen, 'I never thought I'd see the day Kel cried, well at least not in public.'  
  
'She was really close to Anders though,' said Cleon quietly, 'he was the one who looked out for her.' 


	4. Chapter Four

DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings belong to Tamora Pierce  
  
~*Chapter Four *~  
  
Meanwhile Lord Wyldon had just finished explaining things to Lord Raoul, 'It is a good thing you thought to ban the boys from seeing her, but do you really think it will stop them? ' He asked. 'Some how I don't think you simply banning it will stop some of her closer friends from at least trying.'  
  
Lord Wyldon looked furious at the implication that he did not have complete control over his charges however he replied coolly, ' I think it will stop them from all rushing to see her straight away and I hope that it will give them time to think and hopefully they will realize that it is best to leave her alone.'  
  
'Yes. I believe you are right about that.' said Raoul, 'I just hope they do think better of it because Kel would hate for them to see her any time soon. she was very upset.'  
  
'You coddle her too much, Raoul, she has to be treated like any other page.'  
  
'Yes, and "any other page" would be allowed time to themselves to grieve.' Lord Raoul replied shortly.  
  
'You progressives are all the same. you think just because she's a girl.'  
  
If that is all, I will be going now.' Lord Raoul interrupted him calmly, he did not think now was the time for him to have a political debate with Lord Wyldon  
  
~*~ Kel lay on her bed, numb. She had cried herself out a long time before and now she was left with a terrible ache in her heart. She wished she could cry because crying blunted the hurt she felt but she could not cry. Try as she might not a tear would fall. She lay there for what could have been minutes, hours or even days; she didn't know and she didn't care.  
  
Kel stared at the ceiling above her bed. She had been staring at it for quite some time now however it was only now she was actually seeing it. On it she saw a tiny speck. As it moved she saw that it was a fly. She watched the fly as it crawled across the ceiling, suddenly she noticed that it had a slight purple tinge to it.  
  
Though her grief stricken mind id not entirely register the fact that a purple fly was a highly unusual thing she still felt slightly strange as she looked at it. It was then she realized that she had seen that color purple before; it was the exact color of Alanna's gift.  
  
She also realized that the fly was behaving in a very un-fly-like manner. Since when did flies crawl across the ceiling?  
  
As she realized this she became terribly angry. It was not like her to loose her temper, but this was too much, after all that had happened a purple, ceiling-walking fly was too much. She hurled a pillow at the fly, hoping to squash it against the ceiling. However she had obviously misjudged her strength because the pillow made it nowhere near the ceiling and simply fell back to land in her face.  
  
As Kel laid there the significance of the situation sunk in, there was a fly acting very un-fly-like which just happened to be purple. The exact same shade of purple as Alanna's gift happened to be.  
  
'ALANNA!!!' She shrieked at the fly, 'Stop spying on me an leave me alone!!!  
  
The fly stayed still for a moment. Just as Kel was about to loose her temper again there was a flash of purple light and when she could see again the fly no longer had a purple tinge to it. It stood stunned for a moment then took off, flying towards the window. That's much more like a fly should act, she thought dazedly.  
  
She was still furious with Alanna for using the fly to spy on her. Just then she heard a knock on the door. She decided to ignore it like she had every other time; she didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. She was so ashamed of crying in front of everyone. They must all think I'm a complete wimp, she thought, crying like that in front of them. They'll never let me live it down.  
  
Just then she heard someone speaking to her through the door, it was Alanna. 'I'm sorry, Kel. I wasn't spying on you, I was just checking to make sure you were all right. I didn't want you to do anything rash. We weren't sure whether you were still in there or if you had sneaked out because you've been so quiet. I'm sorry; I was just trying to help you. Will you forgive me?'  
  
Hearing one of the most powerful people in the realm grovel to her made Kel feel very powerful, and she didn't like it. 'Please, just go away!' She replied. 'I forgive you, just please get them all to leave me alone. I don't want to speak to anyone.'  
  
There was a pause and she heard people muttering, so it wasn't only Alanna who was out there. The muttering stopped and she heard a voice that she had not expected to hear. 'Kel, dear, I want you to open this door right now! I need to talk to you, no more of this sulking and moping, you understand? Open this door.' Came her mother's voice, slightly muffled through the door.  
  
For as long as Kel could remember she had always done exactly as she was told by her mother. She automatically obeyed as she got up off the bed and walked towards the door. She stood behind the door as she opened it so that no one in the hallway could see her.  
  
Her mother walked in and she quickly shut it to avoid having to talk to anyone else. Her mother turned to her and without saying anything she held out her arms. Kel ran to her and hugged her tightly. 'Oh mama!' Was all she could say. 


	5. Chapter Five

~*~ Chapter Five~*~  
  
It took a long time for Kel to recover enough to re-enter the world. There were times when she didn't talk to anybody for days on end. She had become greatly introverted in dealing with Anders' death. The only person she talked to was her mother. They would sit and talk together. Nobody except the two of them knew what they talked about. They could spend hours just talking. It was usually after one of these talking sessions that Kel would go quiet. However they seemed to be doing good for her because slowly she began to return to her normal routine.  
  
It started with training. She started doing glaive practice in her rooms as a release for the anger she felt at Anders' death. But glaive practice wasn't enough; she wanted to smash something, something solid. That's when she had the idea of jousting. As soon as that idea entered her head it wouldn't leave, so eventually she gave in to it.  
  
Very late one night, when she was sure that anyone sane would be in bed she picked up her practice lance and snuck out to the stables. She quietly saddled Peachblossom and walked him to the practice yard with the jousting dummies in it. She led Peachblossom to the starting point and mounted him. As she sat there she felt her breath calm, she felt her muscles relax and she realized that she had missed jousting. She asked Peachblossom to trot, she brought up her lance and as she rode towards the dummy, her focus narrowed, until it her entire focus was one the target, nothing else mattered.  
  
As she struck the target she felt a thrill. She had definitely missed this. She loved jousting. She loved how while she was jousting, nothing else mattered. Nothing; not crying in front of everyone, not what anyone thought of her, not even Anders' death mattered during those few seconds as she charged. She charged again and again, enjoying the feeling of being completely free, even if it was just for a few seconds.  
  
Eventually she had to stop because Peachblossom was almost done in. Reluctantly, she dismounted and led him back to the stables. As she unsaddled and groomed him, she smiled; the first smile she'd had in ages. Then she remembered. The smile was gone in an instant. She had nothing to smile about.  
  
She hadn't actually forgotten of course, but for a few short minutes, she had managed to push it all slightly to the side. She felt guilty. She felt worse than guilty. She felt as if she had been disloyal to Anders' memory by pushing his death to the side. She felt as if she had betrayed him. She swore she would not forget, not ever would she forget Anders.  
  
She had not planned on going to joust again, not if it meant forgetting Anders. But couldn't help herself, she loved to joust. She loved it too much to stop, now that she had remembered how good it felt. So she jousted, each night, after everyone had gone to sleep, she would slip out to the practice courts and charge until Peachblossom could charge no more. However she would not allow herself to forget, not even for a few minutes. So after each charge, she would pause and remember. Then she would charge again, she would throw all the anger and hurt she felt into her lance as she thrust at the dummy. Many a dummy were ruined during Kel's midnight jousts.  
  
From jousting, Kel started to expand her exercise regime again. She began to practice her sword and hand to hand skills. She would always practice in the privacy of her rooms; she would never risk going to the training courts. She didn't want to risk unexpectedly running into anybody, especially not her friends.  
  
~*~ AN. There. I've updated! I'd like to say thanks to everyone who reviewed! Thank you for encouraging me to continue... I'm glad I did! Thanks, also for your advice. although it may not look like I'm taking it yet, I am taking it into account and it may help later. I'm leading up to something. I'm just not sure what yet! Some of the advice was a little confusing. but thanks all the same! Until I next update, bye bye! Love imogenhm. 


	6. Chapter Six revised

A.N.: omg! I was just reading through my story to try and get some inspiration to FINALLY get writing again and I realized that I missed a whole section of the story when I was uploading.. and no-one pointed it out to me. This shows me that either you're not paying much attention (which I wouldn't be surprised about) or that you're trying to be polite. Please, if it was the latter, stuff the politeness.. If you think something sucks or doesn't make sense please ask or comment about it in your reviews cause it really does help the bettering of my fic.. I mean come on.. It would help if my story even MADE SENSE!! I can't BELIEVE I did that!! Lol. Yeah sorry.. I'll stop now... this has been a REALLY long A.N.  
  
DISCLAIMER: TP owns all... except the plot (which hopefully now makes SOME sense)  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Kel's friends were getting worried about her. Aside from her brief appearance at Anders' funeral, they hadn't seen Kel come out of her mother's guest quarters (where she had moved the day after the funeral) once. They had been coming and going at the Palace with their Knight Masters and not once had any of them had seen her. She hadn't been squiring for Lord Raoul either. He told them he had given her time off for as long as she needed it.  
  
Early one morning, about three weeks after Anders' death, as they were unsaddling their horses after jousting practice, the conversation turned, as it had done a lot of late, to Kel. "What are we going to do? She could have disappeared off the face of the planet and we wouldn't know. We have to at least try to talk to her." Said Neal, slightly desperately.  
  
"We need to let her know that we are here for her." Merric said. "Yeah, and that we understand why she cried. That we don't think she's disgraced herself." Owen agreed. Owen hadn't been his usual jolly, care free self lately. He was very worried about Kel.  
  
"Yeah but how?" Faleron put in. "She won't see us and as far as we know she never comes out of her mother's rooms. How are we supposed to talk to her?"  
  
They continued their discussion as they walked towards the door of the stable. As they walked past Peachblossom's stall Neal stopped. "Peachblossom." He said, staring at Kel's cranky gelding. The others turned around to look at Neal, puzzled. They followed his gaze to Peachblossom. "What? It's Peachblossom Neal. We know. Just cause we want to talk to Kel doesn't mean we're desperate enough to settle for her horse as an alternative." Cleon joked, trying to lighten the sudden gloom that had set on the squires since the topic of Kel had come up again.  
  
Neal glared, without taking his eyes away from Peachblossom. "Look." When his friends looked at him blankly he expanded, as if talking to simpletons. "At Peahblossom." They exchanged confused glances, but turned to look at Peachblossom none the less. "What about him?" Faleron asked, after they had been standing, staring at the gelding for quite a while. He was starting to feel slightly absurd – them all standing there looking as if they were waiting for Peachblossom to talk.  
  
"Look at him," replied Neal. "He looks exhausted. Peachblossom shouldn't look exhausted after almost a month of going without proper exercise."  
  
AN. yeah... I know that sucked just as bad as the old version and it was almost as short but I really AM trying...Yeah so the same applies as last time review if you want.. Don't if you don't want too. Ok? It's still just as simple. so bye again. Love imognhm 


	7. Chapter Seven

AN. Hey, I don't know how many people are still reading this, I know it's been a long time since I updated last. So to anyone who is still reading, thank you and I'm sorry it's taken so long but I've been very busy and I've had HUGE writers block and have actually given up on this story many times only to start it again a while later. So anyway, here's the next chapter. It's a bit short.. and probably isn't any good but I'm just tryna write to get my writer's block out of my system. So yeah, here it is. (After the disclaimer!)  
  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything!!! (Except the plot.. obviously.. I mean duh!)  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
The boys took a better look at the bad tempered gelding and found that Neal was right; Peachblossom looked exhausted and very in shape for a horse that wasn't supposed to have been ridden in close to a month.  
  
"I wonder who's been riding him." Cleon commented, almost to himself. Neal, still looking intently at Peachblossom looked thoughtful.  
  
"How many people do you know who Peachblossom would let touch him, let alone ride him?" This brought a slight pause as the friends thought.  
  
"Just Kel. And maybe Daine, or Stephan. But that's it, Peachblossom would never allow anyone else anywhere near him, let alone allow someone to ride him." Merric spoke what they had all been thinking.  
  
"We should ask Stephan if he's been exercising Peachblossom, because I know for a fact that father sent Daine with the Riders when they went north last week." Roald spoke up from where he had been standing, silent up until now, behind the rest of the boys.  
  
"Let's go see him now; we don't have to be at breakfast for a while yet." Faleron suggested. There were sounds of assent from the other boys, except Owen who said, slightly embarrassed, "I've got to go see Lord Wyldon about something before breakfast, I'll meet up with you guys later."  
  
Owen got his tray and sat down in the mess hall, waiting for his friends to arrive after talking to Stephan. He had seen Lord Wyldon about his punishment work all ready and was slightly bored waiting for his friends to arrive. Just then the mess hall door opened to admit a group of boys, talking in hushed voices. His friends, still talking hushedly (AN. is that a word?? Awell.. it is now. Hehe), got their trays and joined him at their usual table. After a few minutes of continuing hushed discussion Owen got fed up.  
  
"So? What happened?" Owen asked, slightly annoyed that they hadn't decided to explain to him what Stephan had said. They looked up, as if surprised by his presence, which annoyed Owen all the more. But before anyone could reply someone on a neighboring table muttered, "Heads up." And they all rose as the Training Master entered the mess.  
  
After the prayer was finished they sat and began to eat, while Neal took it on himself to explain to Owen. "We went to see Stephan," hearing this Owen inwardly rolled his eyes, did Neal really think he was that slow?" Roald, obviously noticing Owen's impatience, interrupted Neal.  
  
"Don't you think Owen knows that already Neal?" He questioned. Neal looked at Roald, then at Owen. He smiled apologetically. "Yeah, sorry Owen." He then continued.  
  
"Anyway, Stephan said that he hadn't been riding Peachblossom but he had noticed the difference in Peachblossom as well and that he had been keeping a look out to see who had been riding him. He says he hasn't seen anybody go anywhere near Peachblossom's stall, for fear of being bitten. He himself has to feed Peachblossom and he mucks out the stall himself, because all the stable boys are too scared to go near Peachblossom."  
  
There was a slight pause while Owen took this in and the rest of the boys continued to eat. "That doesn't make sense." He stated at last. "If nobody's been riding Peachblossom then why is he so in shape still?"  
  
"That's what we want to know." Cleon replied. It was obvious by the tone of his voice that he was frustrated. The boys sat in silence for the rest of the meal, each thinking his own thoughts. It was obvious, however, that they were all thinking along the same lines.  
  
Finally, as they were getting up to hand their trays to the servants Neal spoke. "It must be Kel." He said. No one had to ask him what he was talking about because it was what everyone had been thinking.  
  
"How though? How could Kel be riding Peachblossom? She's been in the guest wing for weeks. And even if she did come out, you heard Stephan, he's been keeping an eye on Peachblossom's stall every day and he hasn't seen Kel enter the stables once. Let alone take Peachblossom for a ride."  
  
AN. There you have it.. another chapter. Please, no flames, I AM aware how much that sucked ok? You don't need to point it out to me. You also do not need to point out how practically nothing happened in this chapter as I am aware of that also. However, constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated along with any ideas you may have on where this story could go cause I'm running out fast and if I can't come up with something soon I'll probably end up killing them all off. Lol. Probably not but I AM getting desperate for ideas. So, please, REVIEW!!


	8. Chapter Eight

A.N: Here, finally, is another chapter. I'm so sorry for the really long wait and the shortness and crapiness of this chapter. Plus I'm sorry for any confusion my stupidity made with the missing part of chapter six.. Yeah, so, sorry. I hope that now I've got writing again I might have gotten over this MAJOR block I've been having but I guess only time will tell so till next time here it is.  
  
DISCLAIMER: TP owns all... except the plot  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
The boys were getting frustrated. They couldn't think of any explanation to the problem that Peachblossom posed. How could Kel be riding him if no-one saw anything? They checked on the gelding whenever they had the chance, they talked to Stephan regularly, questioning him about the goings-on in the stables, they tried everything they could think of to find an explanation but nothing worked.  
  
None of them really new why they were really that interested in the fact that Peachblossom was being ridden, it was, they supposed a subconscious type of desperation; if they could prove that Kel was indeed riding Peachblossom then they could prove that Kel was doing something other than locking herself in her rooms which would allow them to hope that maybe, just maybe Kel might be almost ready to see them again some time in the not- to-distant future.  
  
Finally Neal got sick of it. In what can only be described as an act of absolute frustration and slight desperation he decided that while his Knight Master, Sir Alanna, was pre-occupied at yet another ball, he would camp out in the stables and wait to try and catch Kel coming to ride Peachblossom.  
  
And so it came to be that one night, about two weeks after Kel's initial Jousting session, Neal was half sitting, half laying in one of the empty horse stalls next door to Peachblossom's in the middle of the night when he heard the stable door open as Kel entered.  
  
Neal started slightly; he had not expected Kel's arrival and had practically given up any hope of Kel coming at all when he had heard midnight called by the watchman a little while earlier. In fact, he had been dozing when she entered.  
  
He sat up slightly and tried to stay silent as Kel walked to Peachblossom's stall and opened the door. She walked past the stall Neal sat in, not noticing the slight bulge in the shadows at the back of the stall. She murmured to Peachblossom as she brushed him down and tacked him up. It was only a couple of minutes and, even in the darkness, Kel had Peachblossom perfectly saddled and ready to go. Carrying her leaded practice lance with ease she lead him out, back passed Neal's hiding place and out of the stable.  
  
Neal waited a few moments and then followed them out of the stables and towards the practice yard that was set up for jousting. He watched from the shadows of a nearby tree as Kel charged again and again at the targets. Even from his distance he could see Kel slowly relax as she got immersed in the strenuous task of hitting a moving ring target in the dark. He noticed that after every charge Kel would pause and wondered what she was thinking, because quite obviously that was what she was doing.  
  
AN. Yes, I know that was a really weird place to finish but I have to go do the washing up now and go to bed so bye for now.. I'll try really hard to update again soon. 


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